Fan Focus: John Castillo & his "Whacker Clappers"

January 12, 2012 | From: Alex

For Twin Cities native John Castillo, the Whacker Clappers idea took several years to get off the ground.

But now that the patent has cleared and sports teams are beginning to use his product in fan sections, Castillo is optimistic that his invention is about to take flight.

"The initial idea occured in 1992," said Castillo, a St. Louis Park resident who grew up in Blaine and now works at St. Jude Medical. "The idea came after swimming in the pool with those foam noodles, as we found that slapping them together made a loud noise. I didn't do anything with it for a while. After talking with friends and family, they suggested I do something with it."

As with any invention, thinking of the idea seems to be the easy part. The legal hoops that need to be jumped through, however, can often stall the progress for some time.

"Looking into it was quite a process," said Castillo. "It took three years just to get a patent on it. I spent that time doing research and development."

Once the patent cleared in 2008, Castillo aimed towards the largest sports league in the United States: the NFL. Unfortunately, the NFL does not allow artificial noisemakers in their stadiums, so Castillo had to look at other options.

"Right now I'm just trying to get a feel if people like these or not, and so far we've gotten a great response," said Castillo. We've gotten great feedback at Minnesota Twins games after just handing them out to fans.

"The Timberwolves' marketing department bought my clappers to hand out to the student section, and that's been the biggest stride we've made so far."

To find out more about Whacker Clappers, visit WhackerClapper.com.

Alex Conover
Web Editorial Associate
conover@timberwolves.com
@alex_cono